La Jolla Half Marathon

So after much thought I decided to run after all the La Jolla half. I had not had much chance since El Paso half to train and got very few runs 6 weeks leading into this race. Probably did only one week of long run and some short runs. I felt a bit tentative since I had run only once, 3mi, in two weeks leading into the race. To top it off I had not even hit the gym. This was due to uber busy work schedule and super tight deadline so I dont feel that bad, but I need to figure out some way to get some workout done some how.

This was probably the hardest run I had done, the route had three hills and rolling hills in addition. The tricky part was a one mile 3% gradient uphill from mile 12 to 13. I had been preparing to run the torrey pine 1.5 mi stretch so no surprises there.

The day started at 4am with some clubbing done previous night and 4 hrs of sleep. After grabbing a couple slices of bread and oatmeal off I was to race finish for bus pick up at 530am. We were driven to del mar fairgrounds at 645am and the race was scheduled to run at 730 for fast runners and 740 for slower (>8min/mi). There were thousands gathered to run, some 7000 odd, and the temperature was perfect at 60F.
I had on me a couple of GUI shots my ipod, glasses, cap and left my phone and keys at the bag checkin. The fast runners started at 730 and I took a bathroom break before the run, also popped in a cpl of lomotits :) . I started at the very end at 740am.

I made good time running at 8:30 min/mi for two miles. Then came the first ascent uphill at 3% for 1.5 miles. At mile 5 we were at the base of the torrey pine hills and I was doing 9 min/mi till then. I took 10 mins to run 3/4 mi of 7% gradient and was at the end of the hill at 9:30 min/mi. I felt good and did some strong runs to burn off lactic acid build up and was on familiar roads of torrey pines road with its rolling hills. At this point around one hour and 6miles in I had my first guy shot. I was hurting a bit so I took a few 30sec walking breaks till we turned near UCSD and made our way to la jolla shores drive. At mile 8.0 we entered la jolla shores where in 5mins or so we had a steep descent. This point I saw a lot of runner go past me, and I need to figure out how to do this descent faster.

The run for downhill until we hit the boardwalk at mile 11 and this point i felt my leg stiffen as it did during training. I was 9:45 muin/mi or so and started to slow even more. At miles 12 we were at the start of the third climb. By this time soreness had take over and I was 2 hrs into the run. I did not realize that the climb would last almost a mile so I walked most of it hoping that flatter terrian was around the corner. The stiffness in my leg meant that it took me 15 mins to finish the last mile and I ended up with time of 2hrs 15min 25 secs. I will take it and this is without much training for last six weeks.

Some take aways:
Work on down hill run speeds
Strengthen legs to avoid stiffness after 11 miles
strategy of running fast till torrey pines meant i got a decent time. Planning ahead seems to help...

two short runs, today and monday

Did a 3.0 mile run in gym and a 3.0 mile run today. This weekend I will do 2hr 30 mins run and see how much distance i can cover. Want it to include torrey pines and some of the la jolla shores that will be part of the race on April 17.

This will probably be my last long run before the race.